James Wyatt Crosby – “Lightning”

James Wyatt Crosby, formerly of Toronto-based dream-pop act Garbagio, just released his solo debut album Twins on September 15th. Album highlight “Lightning” is an instantly accessible, infectiously gliding track that showcases the various stylistic facets of Crosby’s sound.

Crosby describes it best in his own words, the track being “a smooth soft-rock number, features glockenspiel, Rhodes, piano and stormy sound effects. The poppier first half of the track is akin to Montreal artists such as TOPS, Mac Demarco and Sean Nicolas-Savage, while the minimalism-inspired second half of the track might draw comparisons to Radiohead or Sufjan Stevens.”

His vocals certainly tout a peppy presence in the first half, a slick onslaught of friendly guitar tones and jangles, though the sound of rainfall close to the two-minute mark prompts a tonal shift with more introspective yearning. Still, twinkling keys slowly come into the fold alongside excellent guitar infusions and psych-friendly backing vocal effects, finishing the track off similarly to how it started. It’s an excellent piece of songwriting that offers up a melodic journey in less than three minutes.